


A Helping Hand

by Jetta058



Series: FF7 Plot Bunnies [1]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: BAMF Cloud Strife, Cloud gets beat up, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Plot Bunnies Shelter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 23:41:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6171379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jetta058/pseuds/Jetta058
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cloud bites off a bit more than he can chew facing down a new, unknown variant on Bahamut labeled as Destroyer. Thankfully, he gets a helping hand.</p>
<p>Basically, I wanted Post!AC Cloud feeling totally at a loss for when a certain group of people show up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Helping Hand

**Author's Note:**

> Plot Bunnies Series!
> 
> Hi all, I swear I'm almost done with the next Didact chapter. I'll finish it tonight, fix it tomorrow and get it to you all. I shouldn't have started a new series right before starting a new job, huh? 
> 
> Anywho, this is where I'm dumping plot bunnies that I just want to get out of my head but can't use in a fic. Please let me know if you'd like to use them! If I'm posting it here, I'm not likely to use it elsewhere. 
> 
> These are also not going to be reread to fix grammatical or spelling errors. I'll fix it if you point it out, but this is purely to get it out of my head.

Behind the ache in his body from the sheer beating this Deepground experiment of a Bahamut bestowed on Cloud, he was a little annoyed that this was the thing about to take him out. He survived multiple Sephiroth encounters, Geostigma, Don Corneo, depression, torture, survivor’s guilt, the Deepground war proper, JENOVA and bullies as a child. Now, he was down to one knee, hands on the ground as he suffered a massive blast from a recently released hellion of a summon. 

 

Somehow, Deepground actually had a Bahamut summon variant named Destroyer. It combined the strongest things out of all the known variants, making it like a tank with a mako booster. Initially, when it was released, the assessment came to him that he was the only one needed to take it out, as it was out in the countryside, generally not doing much but scorching the ground as it tried to find something to destroy. He was able to get to it before it came across anything other than a small, two-hut fishing outpost. 

 

Well, actually it found him. Despite its size, it managed to sneak up on him and hit him with an overpowered Mega Flare. While he’d laid there a long moment in a surprised daze, it was already mounting a new attack. The fight hadn’t gone well from there, even as he hit it’s thickened and resistant hide with rapid physical attacks and materia combos he would share with Reeve if he survived. 

 

It felt like hours of getting bounced around like a rag doll, bones crunching, blood splattering in ways reminiscent of his last skewering by a certain silver-haired nightmare. Except, he made less headway.

 

Now blood stung both of his eyes, matted his spikes down, and dripped into the grass from his mouth. He gripped his materia and tried to heal some of the damage while the Behamut flew in a wide circle, enjoying its time as it charged up an attack. 

 

Cloud struggled to his feet as his mana left an angry red ache of depletion in his being, even as things stopped bleeding. He wobbled worryingly, annoyed again that this is how he would go down. Finally, as it leveled off at him he pressed the last of his energy into a barrier and leapt, sword glowing as he shot skyward. 

 

Briefly, he reflected that mimicking his attack against Bahamut SIN with less energy, blood, and focus on a much more ridiculous opponent was probably not his smartest move. 

 

He shifted First Tsurugi into  _ ochs _ , level with the side of his head and pointing straight at the summon, as he broke through the other side of the massive, burning ball of energy. It was closer than he’d expected though and his sword dragged over Destroyer’s right eye as he oriented himself upside down to continue to cut. 

 

Tsurugi cut a nice long gash as he ran along to its wing and down along its spine, blood sprayed up his back and he vaguely could feel it  _ burning _ , which was new. At the tip of the tail, he leapt and put all of his concentration into landing in less than a heap. 

 

A Zack-like cheer of landing on his feet and vertical sounded in his mind just before listed to one side and dropped to one knee. The blood on the black of his legs was definitely burning now and he realized he wasn’t going to last much longer, judging by how unstable he was. 

 

After a long moment, as much as he couldn’t move, he was stable again and he realized through the haze that Destroyer had actually gone down so hard the ground shook. The screech of pain was gratifying and he turned his head to get a look.

 

Destroyer had gone down and he could see its wings and tail thrashing as it tried to right itself. Blood coated its back, causing it to steam up. Even at a distance, Cloud could see it eating through its hide. He jerked and ripped the dissolving outer layers off as it nearly reached his skin. He flopped to his side with a groan to watch the summon crawl to its stomach with a screech. It was watching him and he watched it, wondering if it would succumb first. 

 

His heart nearly stopped as it began to glow green with a cure spell. It was weak, but it was managing. Cloud fumbled in his gear for an ether and a potion as Destroyer started to work back to its feet. A potion managed to get down before he was slammed into by a lower level spell and thrown backwards by the recovering monster. 

  
  
  


Cloud came to with a weak groan, the ground shuddering under him again. 

 

Destroyer. 

 

He shoved himself up with a jerk and wobbled back to sit on his heels.  _ Anytime now Aerith. I’ll see you soon. _

 

Cloud was horribly unstable again, but this time he was quicker to realize the ground was shaking and harder this time. Behind him, the base of the hill he was thrown against burst with a strangely striped mako glow from a bright burning core. He raised his hand to block its intensity and grit his teeth.

 

The ball exploded, throwing him flat on his back. As soon as he got his breath, he sighed, then coughed a dribble of blood.

 

“Woah!”

 

Several sets of boots approached quickly and Cloud gritted his teeth to get a blurred look at the group. “Zack, Genesis, heal him while we get an assessment of the area.”

 

His body ran cold, even as he only registered the voice, not the words. He struggled to sit up and grab Tsurugi to once again face off with Sephiroth, only to find a firm hand on his shoulder. “Holy shit, Spike.” He jerked his head up to lock gazes with Zack. “ _ Holy shit. _ ” This one had a different connotation he couldn’t pro

cess, even as he healed. 

 

“Drink this kid.” He took the ether but found Genesis Rhapsodos, more worn looking than the sudden memories offered, checking him over and casting again. 

 

“What?” Finally his mind kicked into gear and he twisted suddenly, sword in hand. “No, Sephiroth is back, let me-” Genesis managed to grab him and tug him back down. 

 

“Sephiroth is fine. I know what you’re thinking. Its not  _ him. _ ” Genesis forced him to look at him. “Just.. wait.” He stood with Zack, making sure Cloud stayed down this time. Zack was still staring at him with an amazed look, then to Genesis when he actually did a double take. 

 

“Genesis, what’s going on?” Zack stayed next to Cloud with a gesture from Genesis. “Angeal! What’s going on?!”

 

Cloud rolled to sit on his knees and froze cold at the sight of Sephiroth, Angeal, Genesis and Zack standing together, in the flesh and utterly solid. The world felt like it was going sideways and he struggled to pull in air.  


 

“I don’t know Pup.” He heard a deep tone that wiggled locked-away memories matching the long haired profile of a ghost. 


End file.
